


Sucks to be a Southpaw

by TheWritingGiant



Series: Upstead Whump [3]
Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28095075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWritingGiant/pseuds/TheWritingGiant
Summary: Breaking a bone sucks, but breaking your dominant hand? Well, that's a whole other ball game.
Relationships: Jay Halstead & Hailey Upton, Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Series: Upstead Whump [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016962
Comments: 12
Kudos: 113





	Sucks to be a Southpaw

**Author's Note:**

> So fun fact, I have broken my dominant (right) hand as is described in this story not once but twice in my life. The first time was during my freshmen year of high school while playing rugby. The other happened a few years back at work, where I tripped down the stairs from the bunk room and decided it would be a fantastic idea to catch myself on my knuckles, not the palms of my hands like a smart person. It’s a great time, 10/10 would recommend … said no one ever, don't do it it's a pain in the ass. Happy reading!

Drug cases were rough. They had too many leads that went nowhere, dealers that refused to flip on their suppliers and more often than not they came with a very high a body count. Either rival dealers popping each other off in territory disputes or junkies that chased their high too far. That almost doubled when something new hit the streets. This time it was called Mirage, a new pharma-cocktail that had a high similar to ecstasy, but better. It had more vivid hallucinations, it was longer lasting and most importantly, or terribly, it was cheaper. It had flooded the streets of Chicago in recent weeks, and the bodies were dropping like flies, fifteen in all. Narcotics had hit a wall and Intelligence had been called in to assist by the Superintendent. It was a CI of Adam's had given them a lead on a dealer who might be willing to play ball, Eric Bosch, who's little sister had been one of the first bodies to drop. Voight assigned Jay and Hailey to go and pick him up.

They headed to Skinner Park to where Bosch was known to deal, but he made them the second he saw them and booked it across the park. Hailey took off after him while Jay called it in, getting patrol there for back up and containment, and then routed to try and flank the dealer. Bosch cut through the basketball court, Hailey glanced to her left to get eyes on her partner and saw Jay running full tilt on the other side of the fence, some patrol officers hot on his heels. What she didn't notice, until it was too late, was Eric shoving over a garbage can to block her path. Hailey tried to jump over the drum, but she mistimed it. Her foot clipped the curve, and she came down hard on the paved play surface, only just managing to get her hands out to cushion the fall.

"Hailey," Jay called out, running to her side. "You good?"

"Yeah," she grimaced and rolled on her back. "Go, go, go."

He took off after the dealer as she sat up her left hand held across her chest. It hurt like a bitch. Slowly, Hailey staggered to her feet, sucking in air like it would help ease the sharp, stabbing pain creeping up her arm. 

"Hailey," Jay ran back over to where she was doubled over on the court. "What's wrong?"

"Where's Bosch?" she tried to straighten up, but couldn't.

"Patrols got him," he assured and placed a hand on her back, scanning for injuries. "You said you were good."

"Jacked up my hand when I landed," she hissed and held it out for him to see.

Jay winced when he saw it, her hand and wrist were red and swollen already. "I'll get an ambo."

"No, Jay," she grabbed his hand with her uninjured one, halting his move for his radio. "It'll be fine; I'll ice it back at the district. I'll be good as new in no time."

"Oh yeah?" he quirked his eyebrow at her. "Clench it into a fist."

Hailey glared at him, but Jay was unmoving. She looked at her hand, then back up at her partner and brought her hand back to her chest. "No ambo," she hugged and headed back to his truck. "And get that smirk off your face."

*

"Alright, Detective Upton," Noah Sexton said as he looked over her x-rays. "Looks like you are the proud owner of both a boxer's fracture and a scaphoid break, don't see those together too often. See the bones here and here."

April took the lead apron off of Hailey and settled the ice pack back on her injured arm. Both looked at what the resident was pointing out on the screen. Hailey could just make out the faint dark lines that ran through the fourth and fifth metacarpals of her hand and a bone nearer to her thumb.

"The good news is they're all clean breaks, so no surgery needed," the young doctor smiled. "Bad news, you bought yourself four to six weeks in a cast."

Hailey groaned and let her head drop pack against the thin hospital pillow. A cast meant desk duty. And four to six weeks of it? There was no way. She'd be climbing the walls by the end of week one.

"Hey, it could be worse," Noah chuckled. "You could be a southpaw."

Jay, who had been sitting silently beside her the whole time wasn't able to stifle his laughter as Hailey glared up at the doctor.

"Ooh," He drew out the word and scratched at his ear. "Yeah, you're good, so I'mma," he gestured over his shoulder with his thumbs and headed out the door.

April shook head at her brother's antics and placed a sympathetic hand Hailey's shoulder. "An ortho-tech be in here soon to put your cast on. We'll get you out of here in no time, Hailey."

The blonde looked up at the nurse. "And there's no way for this to heal without imprisoning my hand?"

April smiled good-naturedly and shook her head. They always say that doctors make the worst patients, but between Hailey and Jay, she wasn't sure. "Keep the ice on, and your arm elevated until ortho gets here. I'll be back with some care instructions after that."

Just under two hours later Hailey and Jay left the ED, with a script for pain pills and a list of instructions on how to take care the camo patterned cast that now encased her dominant hand. She glowered at it the entire drive back to the district. "Hailey," Jay chuckled from the driver's seat. "It's not going to heal because you stare it down, it's not a perp."

"Shut up."

*

"Goldilocks," Trudy waved them over as they entered the district. "How's the paw?"

"Looks like I'll be at your mercy few weeks, Sarge." She lifted her hand to show Platt the cast.

The older woman smiled at her. "I'm sure I can find plenty to keep you occupied." 

"Thanks, Trudy," Hailey nodded and tried not to flinch. The desk sergeant's words felt far more threatening than they did comforting. "I'll talk to you later."

With a nod from the older woman, Hailey followed Jay up the steps to the bullpen.

"There she is," Kevin rose from his desk as soon as they crested the last step. He came over and wrapped a strong, warm arm around Hailey's shoulders. "How you feeling, girl?"

"Like I'm going go crazy in an hour," she replied and wrapped her arms around the larger man, squeezing tight around his waist.

"Hey, anything you need Hails," Kim came over and wrapped the blonde detective up in a hug of her own. "Just ask, I'm there okay?"

"Thanks."

"Yeah," Adam winked at her from where he was tipped back in his chair. "Back rubs, sponge baths, you name it, I'll nurse it."

"We're trying to make her feel better Ruze," Jay threw a ball of paper at him. "Not make her want to puke."

Laughter erupted around the room as Adam feigned affront at Jay's words.

"Upton," Voight's gravelly voice sounded from his office door. Hailey looked up to see the man leaning against the door jam, arms crossed over his chest, scanning her with his eyes for any signs of further injury. "How you doing?"

"Ready to work," Hailey said and took a seat her desk.

"Well get comfortable," the older man nodded. "You know the rules, desk duty until the cast is off."

"Rules are meant to be broken?" She lifted her eyebrows hopefully.

"Nice try," Voight shook his head and headed back into his office. "Get those reports in by end of day; I don't need Platt on my case."

Trying to finish up her report made Hailey encounter her first challenge of living with a broken hand. Typing. She was usually pretty proficient at it, she never even had to look down at the keyboard. She'd actually freaked Adam and Jay out a time or two when she looked off into the distance, completely zoned out, but her fingers flying over the keys with ease and accuracy. That wasn't happening now.

She was still able to use her mouse on the left side like she was used to. It was awkward not being able to bend her wrist or grip with her thumb, but she could move and use her index and middle finger to click, so she wasn't going to complain too much. But actually typing, that was a whole other matter. She couldn't touch type with her left hand, she had to peck at the keys with the two functioning fingers she still had, and that in turn messed up the flow with her right hand. After a frustrating half-hour of trying to do some kind of weird hybrid combination, she finally resorted to hunting and pecking at the key with two fingers like her grandfather always had. It felt like an eternity until she was finally done. 

Printing report led her straight to challenge two, signing things. While Hailey was sure that she'd get more comfortable and therefore faster with the pecking style of typing, she was a cop. While note on a scene or in an interview could be recorded, on occasion, she still had to put pen to paper and sign all official documents. Jay watched in amusement as she tried in vain to find some way to hold the pen in her left hand, but finally, after chucking a pen at her partner when he laughed, she sucked it up and signed with her right hand. 

"Oof," Adam winced as he looked over her shoulder at the page on his way back to his desk. "And we thought you had chicken scratch before."

Hailey rolled her chair into the back of his as soon as he sat down. She smiled in satisfaction at Adam's grunt of discomfort when his stomach dug into the edge of his desk.

*

The third challenge for Hailey came later that night, as she and Jay headed to her place for dinner and the soccer game. She had planned to make them white cheddar mac with chicken and broccoli, but if she couldn't handle a pen, there was no way she was going to attempt chopping. Besides, she wasn't that hungry. "Grilled cheese okay?" 

"Love it," Jay hung up their coats and followed her into the kitchen. "Why don't you let me make 'em. I make a mean grilled cheese."

"Of course you do," she smirked. "Wonder bread and singles slices are a bachelor's staple right?"

"Why you gotta call me out like that, Hailey?"

"Pretty sure I can handle a couple of sandwiches, Jay," she laughed.

"Fine," he sat at the island with a smile and propped his head on his fist, watching her move around the room. "I could use a little pre-game entertainment."

Now Hailey had a lot of regrets about her childhood, but as she'd once told Adam, it wasn't all bad. One thing her family taught her was a love of food, good, fresh, cooking and baking, and if it made her a bit of a snob when it came to ingredients well, that wasn't her problem, until now. In her life the only time she'd bought pre-sliced, mass-produced bread was when she was a broke university student. It was disgusting, and the second she got a decent paying job she never looked back. She always bought fresh loaves from a bakery a few blocks away from her condo. It was the best bread in the world, no matter how you served it. But the bakery didn't have a slicer; she had to cut it herself, which now, of course, presented a problem. Unwilling to ask Jay for help, Hailey ignored his quiet snickers as she mangled the first few slices cutting them with her right hand. Finally, after going slow, she managed to cut four decent enough pieces, the junk pieces she would let go stale and turn them into bread crumbs later. She laid down the cheddar slices she had in the fridge, and while a little clumsy managed to spread the garlic mayo over the sandwiches before Jay stepped in.

"As much as I'd love to watch you try and turn these sandwiches," he took the flipper from her hand. "I also want to eat."

While he took over at the stove, Hailey grabbed two glasses and a bottle of whiskey off her bar cart. If she sloshed a little when she poured, well, at least she cleaned it up before Jay saw.

The final, and arguable the largest challenge presented itself at the end of the night. After watching Chicago Fire get thrashed by Philadelphia Hailey just really wanted to shower and wash the bad day off. Jay volunteered to tidy up and help her prep somethings for the morning after she was finished.

"Do we need to wrap your cast?" he asked.

Hailey shook her head. "Waterproof, just have to be careful."

"Alright," Jay nodded. "Well, I'm down here if you need me, just shout."

"Thanks," she squeezed his shoulder as she passed and headed upstairs to her bedroom. 

She realized her dilemma pretty quick after that when she reached to open the buttons of the flannel shirt she'd tossed on that morning. She couldn't undo them, her wrist and thumb were immobile, completely unable to move through the familiar motion of threading the button through the hole. She tried to get at them with her right hand, but it was the wrong angle, and Hailey didn't have the dexterity in that hand to go through the process backwards. She sat back on her bed with a huff and ran a hand through her hand as she weighed her options.

She could just call it off as a loss, like so much of the day, go back downstairs help Jay clean up and just crawl into bed fully dressed. But she really didn't want to do that, besides she'd just face the same issue in the morning. The next idea that ran through her mind was tearing the shirt, just pull at each button until they gave way. But it was her favourite blue plaid, and even if she only popped off the buttons, her sewing skills left much to be desired.

Hailey fussed for a few more minutes, trying to force the buttons free every which way she could until she finally caved. She had another option, and if she were honest, it was the first one that had run through her mind. "Jay!"

She heard him rush up the stairs and looked at him as he arrived at her doorway. "What's wrong? You okay?"

"Fine," she sighed, embarrassment creeping up the back of her neck. "I need your help."

"Yeah, of course," Jay stepped into the room. "With what?"

Hailey dug her teeth into her bottom lip as she fought back the flush. "I can't get my shirt off," she mumbled.

"What?" He genuinely hadn't heard her.

"I can't get my shirt off," she repeated louder and looking right at him. "I can't undo the buttons."

"Oh," he was taken aback. "Yeah, uh, yeah, I can - Do you want me to?" he pointed at her shirt.

"Only if you don't mind."

"Yeah," Jay cleared throat and stepped closer as he gestured for her to stand. 

Hailey took her place in front of her partner as he reached out slowly. He started with her cuffs, unbuttoning the left on so it would slip over the cast, she hadn't even thought of that. Then it was time for the front. She could see the blush dusting Jay's freckled cheeks as he focused intently on what his fingers were doing and not the thin strip of skin undoing each button revealed. They stayed silent through the whole thing, Jay concentrating on the task, while Hailey looked anywhere but at him. It felt like it took hours until finally, he stepped back.

"Not gonna lie," he cleared his throat and scratched at the back of his head. "This is not how I imagined getting you out of your clothes."

Her eyes snapped up to his just in time to see them widen in realization. "I mean," Jay's face flamed red. "I just…I…"

"Yeah, not quite the image I had in mind either," she gave him a small coy smile. She knew he what he had meant. It was something they had been dancing around for months now, years really. Hailey took a step closer to him and rose on her tiptoes to press her lips to his cheek. "Thanks for the assist partner."

"Uhh, yeah," Jay stammered. "Anytime."

Hailey bit her lip in an attempt to hold back her laughter. She hadn't meant to break him, but she wasn't complaining about it either. It was fun. She turned around and started on her way to the bathroom, dropping her shirt along the way.

Jay snapped out of his daze by the time the blue flannel hit the floor and stared at the smooth, lightly tanned skin of Hailey's back. He really wanted to reach out to see if it was as soft and warm as it looked, but he couldn't make himself move. "You sure you don't need any more help?" he asked, finally finding his voice. Adam's earlier joke about sponge baths suddenly seemed like a great idea.

"Don't worry. I'll shout if I need you," Hailey tossed over her shoulder and closed the door to the bathroom. 

Jay didn't move until he heard the shower start. All jokes and flirtation aside he stayed close in case she really did need help. He'd broken his arm before and knew even the simplest of tasks could be a pain. He raided her closet and pulled out some sweats and an oversized Blackhawks T-shirt he only ever saw her wear on lazy days and laid them on the bed. When he heard the shower stop, he knocked on the door. "Hailey," he called out. "I got some clothes out for you, don't worry nothing with buttons, so you should be good by yourself, I'm gonna go make us some tea, but you know the drill."

"K," he heard her shout back before the hairdryer started up.

Hailey came down the stairs ten minutes later and hopped up to sit on her kitchen island as Jay passed her a mug. "So," he played with the small pool of spilt tea. "About what I said upstairs."

"About how you've imagined taking my clothes off?" Hailey smirked.

"Yeah," his fingers tapped out a pattern on the counter. It's not like he could say he didn't mean it, they both knew he did, he just didn't know where they went from here.

"Jay?" Hailey smiled and tilted her head at him, waiting until he looked up at her. "I meant what I said too."

His fear evaporated, and he couldn't stop the smirk that spread across his face. "Oh, really?"

Hailey nodded as Jay moved around the counter, she reached out and tangled her two working fingers into his shirt, drawing him in until he stood between her legs. He braced his hands on the counter on either side of her and his green eyes sparkling with mischief as he searched her face any sign of doubt. There was none. "So what are we going to do about it?"

Hailey didn't say anything, she just reached her right hand up to his neck and pulled him in, capturing his lips with her. Jay's warm hands ghosted over her thighs as she threaded her fingers through his hair. His tongue brushed against her lower lip, as she wrapped both her arms around his neck, pressing herself closer to his warm chest when a jarring pain shot down her injured arm. They both pulled back from the kiss with a hiss of pain; she'd hit the back of Jay's head with her cast. 

Hailey looked at him, rubbing the back of his head, feeling for a bump. "Sorry," Hailey bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. 

Jay shook his head and grinned. "I always knew you were a menace."

Hailey just shrugged her shoulders and offered him a teasing smile, as if to say _'well, what are you gonna do about it?'_

Jay sighed and rested his hands back on her hips. "I hate to say it, but this may have to wait to continue this until you're a little more used to that cast."

"You're insane if you think I'm waiting another four to six weeks, Jay," Hailey frowned at him. "We've waited long enough."

"I said, we wait until you're used to the cast. We both know you're a quick study," Jay smirked, he slid his hands under her legs and lifted her off the counter. Hailey let out of 'whoa' of surprise and wrapped her legs and arms around him as he started towards the stairs. "See, you didn't smack my head that time, improvement already."

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this one. In the docket for this series right now, I have a gunshot wound/established relationship, as well as a mental health/canon divergent on the go, but they may not come for a bit as a Upstead!1920s Crime Drama AU has taken a lot of my focus lately. But like always, if you have a particular whump situation you would like to see let me know. Also if you've never used garlic mayo on your grilled cheese, do it, you can thank me later.


End file.
